Chapter 130 - 128: The Very, Very Good Hayden Hanson

Hayden Hanson hadn’t had the time or the proper conditions to carefully treat his wounds out in the wild. Fearing an infection, Sev Steele decided to clean them thoroughly herself.

She went to the kitchen, washed a pot, added salt and water, and brought it to a boil. She then poured the saltwater into a basin and set it aside to cool.

She tossed a towel into the boiling pot for fifteen minutes, fishing it out and washing it afterward as a makeshift sterilization process.

Once the saltwater had cooled to a lukewarm temperature, she dampened the sterilized towel and finally began carefully wiping the dried blood around Hayden’s wounds.

The injury was located just above his left chest, and a deep scratch marked his chin. By the looks of it, the Second Tier mutant cuckoo hatchling had slashed him from his chin all the way down to his chest.

The scratch on his chin wasn’t particularly deep—he must have tilted his head to dodge it—but his left chest bore four bloody, bone-deep puncture wounds.

Seeing no other injuries on his body, she figured he had reacted quickly, backhanding the hatchling and severing its head with his Blade.

Although the wounds had been treated and sprinkled with hemostatic Medicine Powder, they were still oozing blood, looking incredibly gruesome.

Seeing the horrific sight, Rose burst into tears. Sniffling, she instinctively let a green light flow from her palms.

Nourished by the green light, the bloody holes on Hayden’s chest began to heal at a visible rate.

First, the bleeding stopped. Then, tender pink flesh began to grow little by little, before finally forming scabs.

Sev had only ever seen Rose channel her Ability into others during combat to replenish their Energy. Yesterday, she had seen her channel her Ability into Rusty to maintain his Vitality.

This was the first time she had witnessed Rose using her Ability to heal someone’s wounds.

The healing speed was so astonishing, like a scene on fast-forward, that she was temporarily left dumbfounded.

By the time she snapped out of it, she noticed the little girl’s face had already begun to turn pale.

"Stop, right now! Mr. Hanson’s wounds have already scabbed over. You don’t need to overdraw your Ability anymore. He’ll be fully healed in a couple of days," Sev said, hastily pulling her youngest daughter into her arms.

She felt truly troubled. Rose possessed a Healing Ability, but she was too soft-hearted. Whenever she saw someone close to her get hurt, she would recklessly overdraw her Ability without any regard for her own life.

What on earth did such a kind-hearted child have to go through to eventually grow into the major villain of the original novel?

Seeing that Mr. Hanson’s complexion had improved and his breathing had steadied, Rose finally relaxed, obediently nestling into her mother’s embrace.

Sev spoke in a serious tone, "Rose, Mr. Hanson has helped us before, so it’s not wrong for you to want to heal him. But you must always remember: the prerequisite for helping others is to protect yourself first.

"If you excessively overdraw your Ability, you could very likely damage your foundation. From then on, you might never be able to use your Ability again, and it could even cause permanent harm to your own body.

"It’s just like Mr. Hanson here. In order to hunt a Mutant Beast, he injured himself, wasted expensive medicine, and made us all worry about him.

"This kind of behavior is called doing more harm than good!

"Hurting yourself without actually managing to help your family and friends is something only a foolish idiot would do. It’s not worth it. Do you understand?"

"I understand. But Mr. Hanson wanted to get those eggs for us. Every time he gets bird eggs, he gives them to us to eat," Rose retorted softly.

Sev was choked by her words, unable to argue back. It was true—Hayden had given all the eggs to their family both times.

Hayden was actually awake by now, but he kept his eyes closed. Because Sev was currently using him as a negative example to educate her little daughter, opening his eyes at this moment would be far too awkward.

When Rose’s Ability entered his body just now, it had done more than just mend his wounds; it had also nourished his muscles and bones. This was the second time he felt his physical decay—caused by his genetic collapse—being alleviated and starting to repair itself.

The last time, during the Mutant Rat swarm, the little girl had channeled her Ability into him to replenish his stamina, and he had felt his body’s decay being somewhat repaired. However, the situation had been too chaotic then, and afterward, he assumed it had just been an illusion.

But this time, he was one hundred percent certain. Rose’s Ability could truly repair the physical decay caused by genetic collapse.

This discovery made Hayden’s heart pound with excitement: if Rose was willing to help repair his body, was there a possibility he could return to normal?

But then it occurred to him that Rose’s Ability was so heaven-defying. If the higher-ups found out, she would inevitably become their tool, forced to endlessly heal those Ability users suffering from genetic collapse.

Should he pretend not to know this secret, or should he remind Sev to keep it completely hidden?

Hayden felt incredibly conflicted. If healing him meant that Rose might be taken away, imprisoned, and reduced to a healing tool for the higher-ups, then he would rather die!

But even if he pretended not to know, there was no guarantee others wouldn’t discover it in the future.

After mulling it over repeatedly, he finally opened his eyes and said to Sev with a solemn expression, "Regarding Rose’s Ability, I have something very important to discuss with you."

"Could it be... is there something special about her Ability?" Sev asked nervously.

Before, when both Rick Kaye and Doctor Jenkins were fighting to be Rose’s mentor, she assumed it was simply because the little girl had extraordinary talent and was adept at communicating with plants. But looking at Hayden’s solemn expression right now, she feared it was much more than just extraordinary talent.

"Her Ability can repair the physical decay caused by genetic collapse," Hayden explained. "This is something other Healers cannot do. It’s completely unheard of."

Upon hearing this, Sev was truly dumbfounded!

In the original novel, any Ability user who suffered a genetic collapse ultimately faced only one outcome: they could no longer use their Ability, their body would progressively decay, and they would eventually die. Moreover, this process was very short. Even those who lasted the longest wouldn’t live past two years!

But now, Hayden was actually saying that Rose’s Ability could repair his body. This meant he wouldn’t have to die.

"Once this secret is leaked, the consequences will be unimaginable. Do you understand?" Hayden’s eyes were brimming with worry.

Sev realized this man was truly, exceptionally good.

An ordinary person in this situation would undoubtedly find an excuse to trick Rose into healing them, and once their body was repaired, they would sell this secret for a high price. Yet, the first thing he thought about was Rose’s future.

"How many treatments of the same intensity as just now do you think it would take to completely repair your body?" Sev asked, answering his statement with a question of her own.

Hayden had helped her a lot. If he could be healed without harming Rose’s body, Sev was more than willing to do it. Of course, given how much her four children liked and trusted him, Rose would definitely be willing to heal him as well.

"Probably... no more than ten times," Hayden replied.

What he didn’t dare say was that as Rose’s Power Level increased, in the future she might only need three or five sessions to completely repair the genetic collapse of a Second Tier Ability User like himself.

He abruptly changed the subject. "However, I don’t want her to heal me.

"Many people in the safe zone know about my genetic collapse. Once my body recovers, anyone with ulterior motives could investigate and discover the uniqueness of Rose’s Ability.

"When that happens, even Doctor Jenkins might not be able to protect her."

"You could pretend that you ate some special medicinal herb in the wild, which inadvertently repaired your body," Sev suggested.

Hayden was such a good man. It was one thing when she had been powerless to help, but now that there was a way to cure him, how could she just stand by and watch him die?

"Let’s put this on hold for now. We can discuss it when I’ve come up with a foolproof plan. In any case, Rose’s Ability must not be exposed. Otherwise, she will be taken away in no time," Hayden said decisively.

He was once the second-in-command of The Azure Owl Mercenary Corps and had never lacked decisiveness. Even though he was now an ordinary person, the resolute determination in his bones remained.

"Alright. Then you’ll ’recuperate’ at home for now and wait a few days before going out," Sev agreed.

When Rose was healing his injuries, she had first treated the frightening bloody holes on his chest, consequently overlooking the scratch on his chin. To avoid arousing suspicion, the wound on his chin would remain untreated; leaving it there would serve perfectly as a cover.

Hayden was now able to get out of bed with ease. He opened his Tactical Backpack and poured out four eggs, along with two Red-Feathered Rails that he had decapitated.

These eggs were relatively small compared to the mutant bird eggs Sev had seen before, but each still weighed around five hundred grams. The two adult birds weren’t very large either. Each weighed about the equivalent of half the mutant turtledove that Seth Jennings had given her, roughly three or four kilograms.

"You take these. The First Tier mutant bird meat can be for Rose, and the eggs can be for you and Rusty and his brothers," Hayden offered.

"That’s not right. You should keep them to nourish your own body," Sev declined.

"Do you know how much it costs to hire a Healer just once? When I was originally brought back by the corps, the commander spent 800,000 points just to save my life!

"And you can see the result. My life was saved, but the physical decay was entirely unstoppable," Hayden said.

His meaning went without saying: even if he paid his entire life savings, it wouldn’t be enough to hire Rose to repair his body.

"Alright, then we’ll eat them together once I’ve cooked," Sev said, no longer refusing. She packed the items into a torn sack and headed straight home.